So we've seen the horror...the... horror... of this Sabres team in their own zone all season. The Sabres have two high-value expiring contracts in Leopold and Regehr and yet they also have a lot of 6/7 types (if that) populating their blueline as well as the unheralded Sekera, the under-appreciated by national press Ehrhoff, and the under-a-microscope Myers. Aside from the pandemic lack of intellegent play from the forwards on the backcheck or with the puck in their own zone, they have three or four positions to fill for next season. Since we're going to have a long, long time before camp opens in the fall, we could spend some time speculating on what they could do to fix things in terms of personnel, blueline or otherwise.
Selling Leopold and Regehr ought to be priority 1a/1b for this coming trade deadline. Finding a contender for Regehr, who at this point they should've asked for a list of possible destinations, and moving him on for another crack at playoff glory could yield them a solid return. As well, it's a nice gesture to a well-respected player. With how d-men get value at the deadline, something in the 2nd round+ or a possible late 1st rounder from a team banking on Regehr's history more than his recent play on this crap team is possibly. Leopold has frequently been a deadline day acquisition over his career. With yet another hand injury, I don't expect his value to be more than his previous benchmarks (2nd rounder).
That said, taking a pair out of the Sabres blueline when they are already awash in middling talent like Brennan, Softzer, and Pardy is going to be an opportunity for someone (McNabb or Pysyk) or a further nightmare for the goaltending. Probably both. McNabb would add a physical element they lack, and can pass the puck, but his plodding skating will be an issue. Pysyk's still growing up. Neither have exactly set the world on fire in the AHL this season, but they are available in the short-term. Do they make the moves and let these guys have OJT as part of the overall youth movement the team has going for it? Or do they look to augment come summer?
Part of their next moves will be dictated by who they have running hockey operations this summer and who is behind the bench. And they clearly need either a system to cut down on chances against or more buy-in from the forwards they have OR simply more defensively capable forwards who aren't going full-Luke Adam on them nightly. They could certainly use a center who can slot in as a defensive zone guy, someone who is above 50% on faceoffs and good at actually shutting down his opposite number. In fact, they could probably use two centers like that and another winger.
Thoughts? Can you tell this has been one boring-ass call I'm on at work?
Selling Leopold and Regehr ought to be priority 1a/1b for this coming trade deadline. Finding a contender for Regehr, who at this point they should've asked for a list of possible destinations, and moving him on for another crack at playoff glory could yield them a solid return. As well, it's a nice gesture to a well-respected player. With how d-men get value at the deadline, something in the 2nd round+ or a possible late 1st rounder from a team banking on Regehr's history more than his recent play on this crap team is possibly. Leopold has frequently been a deadline day acquisition over his career. With yet another hand injury, I don't expect his value to be more than his previous benchmarks (2nd rounder).
That said, taking a pair out of the Sabres blueline when they are already awash in middling talent like Brennan, Softzer, and Pardy is going to be an opportunity for someone (McNabb or Pysyk) or a further nightmare for the goaltending. Probably both. McNabb would add a physical element they lack, and can pass the puck, but his plodding skating will be an issue. Pysyk's still growing up. Neither have exactly set the world on fire in the AHL this season, but they are available in the short-term. Do they make the moves and let these guys have OJT as part of the overall youth movement the team has going for it? Or do they look to augment come summer?
Part of their next moves will be dictated by who they have running hockey operations this summer and who is behind the bench. And they clearly need either a system to cut down on chances against or more buy-in from the forwards they have OR simply more defensively capable forwards who aren't going full-Luke Adam on them nightly. They could certainly use a center who can slot in as a defensive zone guy, someone who is above 50% on faceoffs and good at actually shutting down his opposite number. In fact, they could probably use two centers like that and another winger.
Thoughts? Can you tell this has been one boring-ass call I'm on at work?
) or Visnovsky?
